Haditha Lawyer: Execute Those Responsible

A lawyer who had several relatives among 24 Iraqis allegedly slain by U.S. Marines last fall and is representing kin of other victims complained in a videotape Saturday that American compensation paid to the families was inadequate.

Khaled Salem Rsayef also said U.S. officers accused him and other relatives of lying when they recounted the shootings in their first meeting with the military after the Nov. 19 deaths in the western town of Haditha. He did not say when they met.

In interviews taped Friday by an AP Television News cameraman, 9-year-old survivor Iman Walid Abdul-Hameed demanded that those responsible be executed.

"Because they hurt us, we want the Americans to be executed," Iman said, wearing a violet-colored striped shirt, matching pants and headband while sitting on a couch at a relative's home. Iman, the 9-year-old survivor, looked nervous during her interview. She was reluctant to speak to the cameraman at first, but was eventually persuaded by her relatives.

More: http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/feeds/ap/2006/06/03/ap2791278.html

You have to admit that it would probably never happen to any US troops who attacked Iraqis in that it would be politically impossible.

isn't that what democracy is all about GW?

exception for the first ever televised execution of a standing American president in this case. (NOTE: To Agent Mike, this is NOT a legitimate threat to *. It's literary and it's provisional upon the judgment of the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague.)

But I'll make an exception if the Iraqi's want to take this to the top man in charge and call for you-know-who's head on a platter.

On second thought, that would only make him a martyr to the backwash.

I'm opposed to the death penalty and I'll be damned if I'm going to support the execution of United States Marines, no matter what they did. They have Article 32 rights and I have seen nothing to indicate those rights have been waived.

Then again I would have defended Calley at My Lai. I hate when grunts get blamed for the wars started by the puppeteers and warprofiteers, who make a ton of money and never seem to pay for their sins.

...old revenge killing, gang style.

I don't support the death penalty either, and I don't advocate it for the perps of the Haditha murders, but I do believe that the victims deserve justice. I don't know what the answer is, but shielding these men from justice is not a good answer, IMO.

. . . and not tried as middle class/working class scapegoats for a stupid and immoral war that benefits GE and Halliburton and their wealthy shareholders and allies. If the marines are guilty they should be jailed and dishonorably discharged.

But I'm more than a bit skeptical about what really happened. I'd like to see more facts come out first. I'd like to hear their side of the story, thank you very much.

They chose to lie instead, so anything coming out of their mouths now would be about as credible as anything that Bush has said, not very.

So tell us what could they tell you that would justify the killing of children? As a father and grandfather I'd like to know!!!

I agree they should be brought to justice, but they will be tried for the crime not because they are "middle class/working class scapegoats". GE and Halliburton may have lucrative defense contracts
but they didn't "lose it" and kill these people.

With all the lies that the military has told since this fiasco began, I trust them about as far as I can throw an M-1 tank.

Even though you don't trust the military?

I'd like to hear it from the marines themselves. Assuming they did the acts of which they are accused, I'd especially like to know why they did what they did.

GE and Halliburton make and facilitate war - they are indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands - and they've profited handsomely from it. Are these marines - assuming they are guilty - really so much worse?

off lightly.

The persons involved should be held accountable, preferably in a war crimes tribunal, along with the chain of command in this clusterf**k, but more killing is not the proper answer.

grunts who've been sent by the likes of BushRummyCheneyRice to Iraq for three and four tours of duty.

Let those at the top answer to the Iraqis for their losses. I'm talking first about Rummy but also BushCheney where the buck stops.

A lawyer who had several relatives among 24 Iraqis allegedly slain by U.S. Marines last fall and is representing kin of other victims complained in a videotape Saturday that American compensation paid to the families was inadequate.
Khaled Salem Rsayef also said U.S. officers accused him and other relatives of lying when they recounted the shootings in their first meeting with the military after the Nov. 19 deaths in the western town of Haditha. He did not say when they met.

In interviews taped Friday by an AP Television News cameraman, 9-year-old survivor Iman Walid Abdul-Hameed demanded that those responsible be executed. "Because they hurt us, we want the Americans to be executed," Iman said, wearing a violet-colored striped shirt, matching pants and headband while sitting on a couch at a relative's home. She was reluctant to speak at first, but was eventually persuaded by her relatives.

The girl lost her parents, a brother, grandparents and two uncles in the incident. Another brother, Abdul-Rahman, who was 6 at the time, and a sister, Asia, who was 5 months old, survived. Iman and Abdul-Rahman were slightly
injured. "We did not do anything to them," Iman said of the Marines who allegedly killed unarmed civilians after becoming enraged when a comrade died in a roadside bombing.

(snip)
Despite blaming insurgents for the killings, the U.S. military gave the families $2,500 for each person killed in the incident about a month later, except for four brothers, all of fighting age, he said. "When I received the compensation money, I found out that it was $2,500 for each victim," Rsayef said. "I told them that it's a small sum that does not match the magnitude of the disaster." He noted that Libya's government paid millions of dollars in compensation to the families of the Lockerbie airline bombing victims. "Is American blood worth more than Iraqi blood?" he asked.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_HADITHA?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

scalded by McDonald's hot coffee as she drives with it between her legs, THAT is worth millions in compensation. :sarcasm:

I just noticed this while perusing the internet, but in an interview with CNN the survivor, Iman, said that "I knew the bomb would explode, so I covered my ears. The bomb exploded. The bomb struck an armored vehicle. I don't know if it was a humvee or an armored vehicle. When the bomb exploded, they came straight to our house."


"I knew the bomb would explode, so I covered my ears."

Did she know about the bombing in advance?

And before we find out that this may not be accurate, they should make her kneel like her other family members and be shot full in the face.

No big deal anyway if it only cost $2500 bucks per raghead. WTF!!! She's only 9, what say you.. half price maybe.

Heavy :sarcasm:

you **** **** ******** ***

EXACTLY AND THANK YOU!!

You are hoping beyond hope they will be absolved in this incident.

I'm sorry to say that this is highly unlikely.

Having a family member involved, is it wrong for me to hope this? Wouldn't you hope the same thing if you had someone involved?

I'm not suggesting that a person would not want to defend their own family member, that's a given. Since your first posts here involved only that, I had to also assume you are here with a single mission and may not share our political viewpoints. This is a political forum - even if I have sympathy for your situation, I also have to consider the bigger picture.

"Eman Waleed, 9, lived in a house 150 yards from the site of the blast, which was strong enough to shatter all the windows in her home. "We heard a big noise that woke us all up," she recalls two months later. Eman says she "heard a lot of shooting, so none of us went outside. Besides, it was very early, and we were all wearing our nightclothes." When the Marines entered the house, they were shouting in English. "First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran," she claims, "and we heard shots."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174649-2,00.html

She was sound asleep according to Time magazine.
It also seems odd that an Iraqi child would be so discerning about the type of vehicle. "I don't know if it was a humvee or an armored vehicle."
Little Iraqi girls are familiar with the armor specifics of US military vehicles?
Do you have a link to the CNN quote?
It would be interesting to check the source and translation.

report on what the child has said. As I recall, she has stated that the family was sleeping and were awakened by a large explosion.

As for the death penalty, I am totally against it. The first crime in Iraq was the beginning of Shock and Awe when bombs were dropped for days on a major city and untold numbers of civilians were killed. A war based on lies. I'm waiting for Congress to start its investigation into this crime and putting those responsible under oath. Life in prison for those found guilty in a court of law, to make sure they never again have an opportunity to be a threat to anyone else, would be justice, imo.

RW proponents of it with their own crap.

Of course they will justify it as "self defense."

Let the World Court at the Hague judge.

A guillotine could change "bush" in to a shrub, of course
after his execution is proffered by the war crimes tribunal.

hearing about even one case where the defendant was given serious jail time. Even though these things go to trial, the military punishment is like a joke. No wonder our government refuses to allow our military criminals to be tried in an international court - they might actually get punished.

After all, Bush is ultimately responsible for what our troops do in Iraq. If he hadn't insisted on that bonehead act of colonial piracy, this would not have happened.

While there have been incidences where I would like to see a person executed for their crime, I know that's a point-in-time, emotional, response and rely on the long-term sentiment of myself and others to get me past any singularly heinous event.


Jay

They should be hung.

I'm against the death penalty in domestic situations, mostly because of the economic and racial disparity.

But I haven't got a problem with it when it comes to international war crimes.